Seven GeForce GTX 660 Tis landed in our lab. Today, we're benchmarking them, measuring their noise and temperatures, and conducting a more in-depth analysis of the impact a 192-bit memory interface has on performance. The results are enlightening!

Even though Nvidia's GeForce GTX 660 Ti hasn’t been around for long, there are almost as many third-party board designs as the much more mature GeForce GTX 670. Of course, this isn't particularly surprising; there is no real GTX 660 Ti reference design, compelling vendors to create their own product.

We covered the card's technical specifications in GeForce GTX 660 Ti Review: Nvidia's Trickle-Down Keplernomics. So, today, we're focusing on those retail cards with aftermarket tweaks and optimizations. We have a total of seven submissions from Asus, Gainward, Gigabyte, Galaxy, MSI, Palit, and Zotac. EVGA wasn’t able to send us a sample this time around, and we never heard back from Point of View (which is fine, since they don't sell in the U.S. anyway).

When we finished up with our benchmarks, we discovered that different tests led us to divergent conclusions about the cards we tested. The game and settings you use can have a huge impact on the performance of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 660 Ti. This was perhaps most evident in our launch story, which many of you pointed out didn't always jive with some of the other reviews out there. And yet, we picked the settings for each test we ran based on what the GeForce GTX 660 Ti could handle, yielding both playable performance and optimal graphics quality. That's what any gamer is going to do.

So, what caused the discrepancy? We're including an in-depth memory bandwidth analysis, which should really spell out why our results came out the way they did, and why we think they're right on the money. We're also taking a good look at the usable GPU Boost clock rates for these cards. After all, you never know what you’ll find when you dig deep enough!

Technical Specifications

As you already know, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 660 Ti uses the same GK104 silicon as its GeForce GTX 670. The new card's memory interface is cut back from 256 to 192 bits, though. Also, one of its four render back-end clusters is disabled. The GPUs are otherwise completely identical, including seven SMX blocks with a total of 1344 CUDA cores and 112 texture units.

Each of the remaining ROP clusters can output up to eight 32-bit pixels, for a total of 24 pixels per clock. The three 64-bit memory interfaces provide the aggregate 192-bit pathway. And coincidentally, the GPU and memory clock rates are the same as GeForce GTX 670. Then again, that fact doesn't really apply to today's story; six of the seven cards are overclocked right from the factory.

Let’s first have a look at the seven cards’ technical specifications.

Asus GTX 660Ti DirectCU II

Gainward GTX 660 Ti Phantom

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti Windforce 2x OC Edition

Galaxy GeForce GTX 660 Ti GC 3 GB

MSI N660 Ti PE 2GD5/OC

Palit GTX 660 Ti Jetstream

Zotac GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition

Shaders

1344

Texture Units

112

ROPs

24

GPU Clock

915 MHz

1006 MHz

1032 MHz

1006 MHz

1019 MHz

1006 MHz

1033 MHz

Boost Clock

980 MHz

1085 MHz

1111 MHz

1084 MHz

1088 MHz

1085 MHz

1111 MHz

Pixel Fill Rate

22.0 GPix/s

24.1 GPix/s

24.8 GPix/s

24.1 GPix/s

24.5 GPix/s

24.1 GPix/s

24.8 GPix/s

Texture Fill Rate

102.5 GTex/s

112.7 GTex/s

115.7 GTex/s

112.7 GTex/s

114.2 GTex/s

112.7 GTex/s

115.7 GTex/s

Memory Clock

1502 MHz

1527 MHz

1502 MHz

1502 MHz

1502 MHz

1527 MHz

1652 MHz

Memory Interface

192-bit

Bandwidth

144.2 GB/s

146.6 GB/s

144.2 GB/s

144.2 GB/s

144.2 GB/s

146.6 GB/s

158.6 GB/s

Memory

2 GB GDDR5

3 GB GDDR5

2 GB GDDR5

Die Size

294 mm²

Transistors

3.54 Billion

Power Connectors

2 x 6-pin

Street Price

$300

$300

$340

$310

$310

On paper, Gigabyte and Zotac appear to have the most attractive boards, the former offering overclocked specifications right at Nvidia's MSRP, and the latter juicing memory performance, which we suspect will play a big role in alleviating bandwidth limitations, for just $10 more.

Two of the cards, from Gainward and Palit, aren't available to our U.S. audience right now. So, we don't have prices listed for them.

it is because of the 660ti that the 7950 prices dropped to $300 or less with MIR: so tell me how irrelevant they are now?

The 7950 has been our for months now compared to the 660ti and the price drop happens before the release of the 660ti. Nvidia should really have predicted that the 7950 prices should come down even more so it makes almost no sense that they release the 660ti at $300.

The 7870 performs just slightly slower compared to the 660ti but beats it once you crank up the AA really high and it costs $50 less. On the other hand the 7950 is overall faster than the 660ti and even surpass the the $60+ 670 once you crank the AA really high as well. For the 660ti to sell, Nvidia should really lower it to $260 imo.....or they could just rely on fanboys

I'd Like to know which 2GB model 660ti you used in this comparison? I would like to see how if perhaps the Zotac memory overclock has much of an effect on performance. If you used the Zotac in this comparison that may very well be the reason it outperforms the 3GB Galaxy card? Maybe run this same test overclocking the memory, it seems as though the 660ti with its memory overclocked can nearly reach GTX670 Bandwidth. I'd like to see how much that helps overcome the narrow bus.

iknowhowtofixitThis review reinforces what I have been saying for weeks. The GTX 660Ti is overpriced at $300. Since you can easily find a HD7950 for $300 or less after rebates, it makes the 660TI irrelevant. To me, the 660Ti needs to be $60-$75 cheaper before it can achieve bang for the buck status.

it is because of the 660ti that the 7950 prices dropped to $300 or less with MIR: so tell me how irrelevant they are now?

it is because of the 660ti that the 7950 prices dropped to $300 or less with MIR: so tell me how irrelevant they are now?

The 7950 has been our for months now compared to the 660ti and the price drop happens before the release of the 660ti. Nvidia should really have predicted that the 7950 prices should come down even more so it makes almost no sense that they release the 660ti at $300.

The 7870 performs just slightly slower compared to the 660ti but beats it once you crank up the AA really high and it costs $50 less. On the other hand the 7950 is overall faster than the 660ti and even surpass the the $60+ 670 once you crank the AA really high as well. For the 660ti to sell, Nvidia should really lower it to $260 imo.....or they could just rely on fanboys

AMD has already dropped the HD 7970 from US $479 to US $429, HD 7950 from US $399 to US $349 and the HD 7870 down from US $349 to US $299. The new price cut skips the HD 7970 graphics card but includes the HD 7950, HD 7870 as well as the 1 and 2GB versions of the HD 7850.

The most important is probably the price cut for the 3GB HD 7950 which battles it out with Nvidia's recently released GTX 660 Ti. The HD 7950 3GB is, according to the report, will receive a US $30 price cut placing it at US $320. The HD 7870 2GB graphics card got another US $50 price cut pushing it down to US $250 which probably makes it one of the most interesting mid-range graphics cards on the market.

AMD has already dropped the HD 7970 from US $479 to US $429, HD 7950 from US $399 to US $349 and the HD 7870 down from US $349 to US $299. The new price cut skips the HD 7970 graphics card but includes the HD 7950, HD 7870 as well as the 1 and 2GB versions of the HD 7850.

The most important is probably the price cut for the 3GB HD 7950 which battles it out with Nvidia's recently released GTX 660 Ti. The HD 7950 3GB is, according to the report, will receive a US $30 price cut placing it at US $320. The HD 7870 2GB graphics card got another US $50 price cut pushing it down to US $250 which probably makes it one of the most interesting mid-range graphics cards on the market.

cheers!

If you check the price of the 7950s before this news at most online retailer (Newegg, NCIX), you'll know that the price drop happens already although the official news from AMD was a couple of weeks later

If you check the price of the 7950s before this news at most online retailer (Newegg, NCIX), you'll know that the price drop happens already although the official news from AMD was a couple of weeks later

now you are talking complete nonsense unless you do not understand there were two price drops and the latter of which is because of the 660ti; as the article stated.so you want to see pricing history . . Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card

I'm not talking nonsense, yes they were 2 price drops and the latter one was due to the 660ti BUT it happens before the official release of the 660ti. I've check newegg prices almost everyday so I know I'm not talking nonsense. The official news was weeks later or it could be that I read news that was reported late. However, my point still stands that the price drops before the 660ti was released

I'm not talking nonsense, yes they were 2 price drops and the latter one was due to the 660ti BUT it happens before the official release of the 660ti. I've check newegg prices almost everyday so I know I'm not talking nonsense. The official news was weeks later or it could be that I read news that was reported late. However, my point still stands that the price drops before the 660ti was released

http://videocardz.com/nvidia/geforce-600/geforce-gtx-660tiRELEASE DATE:August 16h, 2012and as you can see the price drop to ~$300 was announced august 21st and hit the market around that time, after the 660ti was released and the pricing history in the graph obviously shows the announcement wasn't late but happened at the same time.

maybe your price checking wasn't as thorough as you thought . . . my point of those great prices on the 7950 because of the 660ti still holds. (thumb that)

http://videocardz.com/nvidia/geforce-600/geforce-gtx-660tiRELEASE DATE:August 16h, 2012and as you can see the price drop to ~$300 was announced august 21st and hit the market around that time, after the 660ti was released and the pricing history in the graph obviously shows the announcement wasn't late but happened at the same time.

maybe your price checking wasn't as thorough as you thought . . . my point of those great prices on the 7950 because of the 660ti still holds. (thumb that)

How many times do I have to remind you that the price drops was announced by AMD late? Or it could be the fact that at a week or two before the 660ti was released, all graphics card manufacturer(Asus, MSI, Saphhire, etc) drops the price of the 7950 themselves since you could find most 7950 at $320-330, but I find that hard to believe so AMD themselves must've lower the MSRP and had not yet announce it to the public.

The same thing happens today (although I don't know whether it's AMD or the card manufacturer), where if you browse Newegg right now, you can find the 7950 at $310 or even below $300. As far as I know, the MSRP hasn't changed yet from $320 and there's been no word from AMD about this either.

My conclusion about this, is that the 660ti is still overpriced considering the fact that once you take high resolution, higher AA settings, multi-GPU+multi-monitor setup and higher overclocking headroom, the 7950 pretty much trumps the 660ti in every way for a card that can be found at the same price or just slightly more expensive.

With the cpu clock so high, relative to the performance I can only imagine that those like myself with an AMD system would have atrocious performance. That 2500K probably gives 35% better performance than my oc'd X4. Haha, good thang you stuck with Intel for this article.

it is because of the 660ti that the 7950 prices dropped to $300 or less with MIR: so tell me how irrelevant they are now?

Umm...the 7870 performs just slightly below it and even beats it once you apply 8xAA or play at 2560x1600 while costs 50 bucks less. In the case of the 7950 vs 660ti, the 7950 costs similar (okay, maybe some of them are slightly expensive) and has the potential to even beat the 670.